The AI boom didn’t stop Google from hiring nearly 12,000 people

As companies make rounds of job cuts and double down on AI spend, Google’s parent company Alphabet is expanding its workforce.

Alphabet reported blockbuster second-quarter earnings, with revenue climbing 24% year over year to $119.8 billion.

The company revealed in its earnings report that it increased head count by 11,830 employees, from 187,103 to 198,933, between June 30, 2025 and June 30, 2026.

The chart below shows how Alphabet’s workforce has grown from the end of the first quarter of 2025 through the end of the second quarter of 2026.

The biggest jump in Alphabet’s head count of the last couple of years came in the second quarter of 2026, when the company added over 4,000 workers, accounting for more than one-third of net hiring over the past year.

Since 2022, companies including Google, Meta, Amazon, and Microsoft have cut thousands of jobs.

Google laid off 12,000 employees in 2023 and has conducted several smaller rounds of cuts since, impacting thousands of employees in total.

Google employees from around the country rallied last week to demand stronger protections against layoffs.

Roughly 4,500 employees signed a petition about job security addressed to CEO Sundar Pichai and three senior executives at the tech giant.

While Google didn’t share which roles it has hired more of over the last year, the company said in its earnings on Thursday that it’s prioritizing long-term AI growth and doubling down on its AI buildout.

The tech giant raised its 2026 capital expenditure outlook to between $195 billion and $205 billion, up from a previous estimate of up to $190 billion.

The company said its demand for AI infrastructure continues to outpace available capacity.